Cash-Based Interventions

Most refugees live in environments where they have access to markets and services in the same way that local communities do. Providing refugees with cash enables them to fulfil their needs in a dignified manner and contributes to the local economy.

UNHCR uses cash-based interventions to provide protection, assistance and services to the most vulnerable. Cash and vouchers help the displaced meet a variety of needs, including access to food, water, healthcare, shelter, that allow them to build and support livelihoods, and to facilitate voluntary repatriation.

When people are forced to flee their homes, they leave with the bare essentials. They also lose their ability to earn and spend in the process. Our cash-based interventions (CBIs) seek to protect refugees by reducing the risks they face and to maintain their capacity to spend. CBIs can be used in a variety of settings, as long as there is a stable market and a safe way to provide refugees with cash or vouchers. The flexibility that CBIs offer makes them a more dignified form of assistance, giving refugees the ability to immediately prioritise and choose what they need.

Cash-based interventions make the displaced less likely to resort to harmful coping strategies, such as survival sex, child labour, family separation and forced marriage. They also directly benefit the local economy and can contribute to peaceful coexistence with host communities.

At UNHCR, we strive to make the best use of the latest available technologies, such as cash delivery through ATMs, iris scans and the EyeCloud in Jordan. We are also building ever-growing partnerships within the humanitarian community and the private sector.